Motives for Sports Participation Among Sport Science and Recreation Malay Student-Athletes, University Technology Mara (UITM), Shah Alam

There is a need to conduct a research on sport participation with those who had already taken part in sports, especially on Malay student-athletes because motives may not only be the reason why people start taking part in sports, but also often they are the reason why people continue to participate in sports. Furthermore, by understanding the motives of student-athletes to participate in sports, an effort can be made, in structuring the sports environment so that needs of the Malay student-athletes can be met. The study was concerned with sport participation motives among Malay student-athletes of Sport Science and Recreation Faculty at University Technology MARA (UiTM). The purpose of this study was to identify the main motives for sport participation. The study also determined the differences in motive by gender (male and female), courses (Diploma and Degree) and level of representation in sports (school, university, district, state and country). The research employed quantitative research methodology based on responses from questionnaire. Purpose of Sport Questionnaire designed by Duda (1989) was employed as instrument. The sample consisted of 300 Malay student-athletes, who had participated in sport either at school, university, district, state or country level. A five-point rating Likert-type scale was used. The statistical package SPSS was used for data analysis. Percentages, means and standard deviations were computed for the criteria indicators. Independent t -tests and ANOYA were computed to determine significance between means of the groups, and were used to test for significant

Relationship between academic self-concept and self-esteem among student-athletes / Norzila Yusoff ... [et al.]

Purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between academic self-concept and selfesteem among student-athletes. The level of academic self-concept was collected using the Liu and Wang’s (2005) Academic Self-Concept Scale which consists of Academic Confident (AC) and Academic Effort (AE), whereas The Rosenberg’s (1965) Self-esteem Scale was used to measure self-esteem. This study was conducted on 52 athletes (male = 33 and female =19) during the tournament of Malaysian University Sports Council (MASUM) which was held at Hang Jebat Sports Complex, Melaka. The results had showed that males athletes had slightly higher of Academic Self-Concept (mean = 64.60) compared to females (mean = 63.37). However, females athletes (mean = 20.32) exhibited higher level of self-esteem higher than males athletes (mean = 18.78). Meanwhile the correlation result on academic self-concept and self-esteem showed there was a small negative correlation (r = .17) but there is no significant relationship between both variables among university athletes (p < 0.05). It concluded that academic self-concept and self-esteem played important roles for the student-athletes to success in academic and sports

Competitive anxiety level before and during competition among Malaysian athletes

Anxiety is recognized as one of the main factors that reduces athletes’ performance in sports. In many research reviews, researchers have found that high levels of anxiety can have a deteriorating effect on athletes’ or teams’ performance. To date, however, there has been no attempt to examine competitive anxiety level as influenced by gender, levels of skills, and performance. The main aim of the study was to describe and compare the anxiety differences before and during competition among different categories of skills of athletes and genders. Data were collected from 902 athletes using a 27 item Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2. The results showed that national level and male athletes obtained the lowest score on competitive state anxiety. Based on the current results, it is recommended that sport psychologists, sport counsellors, and coaches in Malaysia use the findings to design appropriate training programmes to help athletes acquire suitable coping strategies so as to reduce their state anxiety levels and enhance their performance

THE DRUG USE MOTIVATION AMONG MALAYSIAN ATHLETES

AbstractThe aim of this research was to identify the usage of drugs on athletes by focusing on gender and different categories level of athletes. The sample, which was chosen randomly consisted of 115 athletes, consisting of national athletes (N=35), state athletes (N=35), district athletes (N=19), and university athletes (N=26). Based on gender, the present research consists of 70 male and 45 female athletes. Drug Usage Questionnaire, were used to collect the data. The result showed that the main motive usage of drugsis to win. This research also showed that male athletes use more drugs than females. National or athletes who represent the country are highest in using drugs. Sport psychologists should play an important role by providing therapies to drug addicts’ athletes to curb the usage of drugs. Malaysian government also should prevent athletes who taken drugs from taking part in sport competition.Key Words: coping strategy , district, drugs, representing national, state

Tahap keyakinan diri dan pencapaian atlet Bumiputera / Vincent A. Parnabas and Yahaya Mahamood

Keyakinan diri adalah melakukan sesuatu tingkah laku dengan jayanya tanpa mempunyai perasaan risau, penilaian positif terhadap diri sendiri, dan mengharap pencapaian yang positif. Pencapaian tinggi atlet dalam sukan banyak bergantung kepada keyakinan. Walaubagaimana pun di Malaysia, belum ada satu kajian ilmiah yang secara khusus mengenal pasti tahap keyakinan diri dan pencapaian bumiputera. Beberapa kajian menunjukkan atlet yang memiliki kemahiran yang berbeza akan menunjukkan tahap keyakinan diri yang yang berbeza. Justeru itu, kajian ini akan bandingkan pelbagai kategori kemahiran atlet bumiputera iaitu yang mewakili universiti, daerah, negeri dan negara. Kajian ini telah memperolehi sebanyak 87 responden, yang merupakan atlet bumiputera, dari Universiti Teknologi MARA. Soal selidik Competitive State Anxiety Inventory – 2 (CSAI-2) digunakan, bagi tujuan untuk mengutip data. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan atlet elit atau yang mewakili negara memiliki tahap keyakinan diri yang lebih tinggi daripada atlet yang mewakili negeri, daerah dan universiti. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan atlet bumiputera yang memiliki tahap pencapaian yang tertinggi menunjukkan tahap keyakinan diri yang tertinggi jika dibandingkan dengan atlet yang memiliki tahap pencapaian sederhana atau rendah. Kajian ini bermanfaat bagi jurulatih, kaunselor sukan dan psikologi sukan, untuk membuat program-program yang berkaitan dengan peningkatan keyakinan diri bagi atlet bumiputera yang mengalami tahap keyakinan diri yang rendah supaya boleh memperbaiki pencapaian dalam sukan

Symptoms of stress among student-athletes of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia

Background of the Study: Recent evidence suggests that student-athletes may experience greater levels of stress or anxiety due to the dual demands of athletics and academics expectation placed on them.A lot of pressure is placed on collegiate athletes to achieve excellence in academics and sports.The symptoms of stress are known as physiological, behavioral, cognitive and emotional.Aims: The main purpose of this study was to examine the symptoms of stress among student-athletes who compete at differing levels in Malaysia.Study Design: Comparative descriptive study design was used to compare the symptoms of stress among athletes.Place and Duration of Study: Sample: The participants of this study were recruited from student-athletes of Sport Science and Recreation Faculty, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia.Methodology: The sample consisted of 152 athletes, with national (N=41), state (N=33), district (N=37) and university (N= 41) level athletes.Based on this sample, there are 80 male and 72 female student-athletes. The student athletes voluntarily participated in the study and they were randomly selected during a sport event.The instrument used for the study comprised of a 28-item Symptoms of Stress, which include Physiological symptoms, Behavioral Symptoms, Cognitive Symptoms and Emotional Symptoms.Results: The results showed that university level athletes exhibited higher levels of physiological and cognitive stress than other categories of athletes.The result also showed that the national level athletes exhibited higher level of behavioral symptoms of stress. Conclusion: The findings of this research determined that there are differences in the symptoms of stress, showed by different categories of Malaysian athletes.Sport psychologists, sport counselors and coaches should use the present findings to recommend cognitive and physiological coping strategies to university athletes and behavioral strategies to national level athletes, while dealing with their stress

The correlation between agility and performance among blind and visually impaired athletes

Regular physical activity has benefits on physical fitness among visually impaired athletes. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the motor fitness of agility influences the performance of the athletes. Total of 39 athletes (24 males and 15 females) were recruited for this study and were differentiate between their medical classes (totally blind athletes (B1) – male (n=10); females (n=8) and partially blind athletes (B2)- males (n=14); females (n=7). Subject?s height and weight was measured to determine the BMI level. Subjects was also required to undergo the lateral change of direction test was used to determine the agility among the athletes. Each of the subjects was required to complete 2 trials and the average score was recorded. The entire tests were analyzed using SPSS and presented as mean. Independent T-Test showed that there are significant differences in agility levels between b1 and B2 athletes. Correlation was also significant (p < 0.01; r = –.581) between classification groups and tests time scores. B1 and B2 athlete?s agility levels were slightly difference which also will affect their performance. Based on this data, future studies were suggested on non-athletes population

Competitive state anxiety and performance among Malaysian athletes from the view of multidimensional anxiety theory / Vincent A. Parnabas, Yahaya Mahamood and Kwame Ampofo-Boateng

The Multidimensional Anxiety theory examines the relationship between anxiety and performance. It is the first theory that explains that both cognitive and somatic components play an important role on performance. Cognitive anxiety is the mental component of anxiety and somatic anxiety refers to a person’s perceived changes in her or his physiological. The theory hypothesizes a powerful negative linear relationship between cognitive state anxiety and performance and a less powerful, inverted U relationship between somatic anxiety and performance. The theory states that the increases of cognitive and somatic anxiety will deteriorate an athlete’s performance. However, previous research had showed inconsistent results. Therefore, this research examines the effect of cognitive and somatic anxiety on performance among Malaysian athletes. The sample consisted of 902 athletes, consisting of national (N=53), state (N=395), district (N=120), university (N=211), and school athletes (N= 123). The sample was drawn from among athletes who competed in three big sport events of Malaysia, MASUM (Universities Sports Competition), MSSM (Schools Sport Competition) and Sukan Olimpik Muda (Young Olympic Athletes Competition).The instrument used for the study comprised of a 27-item Competitive State Anxiety Inventory–2, consisting of cognitive and somatic component. The result has received support from the Multidimensional Anxiety theory, that the increased level of cognitive and somatic anxiety deteriorated athletes’ performance. Coaches, sport psychologists and counsellors can use this research to reduce the cognitive and somatic anxiety to increase athletes’ performance

Penggunaan Narkotika dikalangan Olahragawan Malaysia

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti penggunaan narkotika dikalangan atlet mengikut kemahiran, iaitu yang mewakili peringkat Nasional (negara), negeri, daerah dan universiti. Selain itu, ia juga untuk melihat perbezaan penggunaan narkotika dikalangan atlet berdasarkan gender. Penelitian ini menggunakan sampel 111 atlet Malaysia (Negara = 31; Negeri = 35; Daerah = 19; Universitas = 26), yang dipilih secara random semasa pertandingan olahraga antara universitas. Manakala dari segi gender, atlet lelaki adalah 66 dan atlet perempuan adalah 45. Angket Penggunaan Narkotika (Drug Use Questionnaire) digunakan dalam penelitian ini untuk mengukur tahap penggunaan narkotika. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan tujuan utama penggunaan narkotika adalah untuk menang. Selain itu, penggunaan narkotika dikalangan atlet lelaki lebih tinggi daripada perempuan. Hasil penelitian juga menunjukkan narkotika lebih tinggi diguna oleh olahragawan yang mewakili peringkat Nasional (Negara). Ahli-ahli psikologi olahraga harus memainkan peranan penting untuk menggurangkan ketagihan penggunaan narkotika dengan memberi terapi yang berkesan. Pemerintah Malaysia harus melarang olahragawan yang menggunakan narkotika terlibat dalam pertandingan olahraga

Positive coping strategies and performance level among Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) athletes

Anxiety is one of the main barriers that impact on performance among athletes and countless researches have been conducted on coping strategy techniques to reduce anxiety among athletes. Coping strategies involve positive or negative techniques. Positive techniques include positive self-talk, physical activity, goal setting, thinking on practice, thought stopping, remembering the worst-case scenario, focus on what you can control, imagery, meditation, simulation, breathing techniques, progressive relaxation, autogenic training and biofeedback, while, negative techniques include drugs, alcohol and smoking.The present study sought to explore potential positive coping techniques used by athletes as influence by demographic variables of athletes.The sample consisted of 78 Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) athletes. The sample was drawn from athletes who competed in MASUM (Sport between Universities).Results showed that imagery have the highest usage among athletes. National athletes used more postive coping techniques than state, district, and university level athletes.Positive coping techniques of high level performance athletes were more than medium and low level performance athletes.The findings emphasized the importance of positive coping strategies to enhance performance.Sport psychologists, sport counselors and coaches should encourage their athletes to use positive coping strategies to improve performance